Jan 13th -Companies in the news MAHB, SP Setia, SMRT, Masterskill, PLB Engineering, Destini, and oil palm planters

by **Cals** Tue 13 Jan 2015, 00:42

Companies in the news
MAHB, SP Setia, SMRT, Masterskill, PLB Engineering, Destini, and oil palm planters

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, the companies that may be in focus tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan 13) could be: Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd, SP Setia Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard),SMRT Holdings Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard), Masterskill Education Group Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard), PLB Engineering Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard), Destini Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard) and oil palm planters.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard) released 2014's passenger traffic data at its 39 airports today, which showed a 4.7% increase to 83.32 million compared to 79.59 million in 2013, crossing the 80 million mark for the first time.
However, MAHB said the passenger growth for 2014 was lower than what was expected as the performance has been affected by the negative sentiment from the two Malaysia Airlines ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard) (MH370 and MH17) incidents.
Of the 83.32 million passengers handled last year, nearly 80% came from AirAsia Group and MAS and about 15% from foreign carriers.
MAHB said MH370 had significantly affected passenger flows from China, whilst MH17 affected the Europe sector traffic.
Looking ahead, MAHB expects 2015 passenger traffic to record 85.8 million movements, or 3% above 2014, based on the assumptions that the country's gross domestic product growth of 5% to 6% will hold, fuel prices remain stable at the current lower levels and that airlines' seat capacity supply remains in line with its estimates.
MAHB's share prices fell 11 sen or 1.71% to RM6.33 today, valuing it at RM8.85 billion.
SP Setia Bhd has appointed PNB Merdeka Ventures Sdn Bhd CEO Tengku Datuk Abdul Aziz Tengku Mahmud to its board as a non-executive director, the group told Bursa Malaysia today.
PNB Merdeka Ventures is a wholly-owned unit of Permodalan Nasional Bhd, which is responsible for the development of the 118-storey Warisan Merdeka project.
Abdul Aziz was previously the head of property development at Sime Darby Property Bhd from August 2008 to March 2010, where he led the company's property development operations in relation to the hospitality, leisure and asset management segments of the group's property division.
Prior to that, he was with Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd as its head of property, and was CEO of Guthrie Property Development Holding Bhd from 2005 to 2007.
This is the first boardroom change subsequent to the departure of former acting CEO Datuk Voon Tin Yow, whose resignation will be effective on Jan 1, 2015.
SP Setia rose 4 sen or 1.19% to RM3.39 today, bringing its market capitalisation to RM8.58 billion.
Education entity SMRT Holdings Bhd and private equity firm Creador had proposed to buy the 30.75% stake inMasterskill Education Group Bhd from major shareholder Siva Kumar M Jeyapalan at 60 sen a share.
Both SMRT and Creador are targeting to turnaround Masterskill within a year.
SMRT will buy 23% of the aforesaid stake and Creador will take up the remaining 7.75%. SMRT and Creador have entered into a share sale agreement with Siva Kumar for the transaction. The agreement was entered into via SMRT's subsidiary Strategic Ambience Sdn Bhd and Creador's unit Arenga Pinnata Sdn Bhd.
Creador has also made a conditional take-over offer for the remaining Masterkill shares not held by the company at 60 sen a share. Creador intends to maintain the listing status of Masterkill and rename it Asiamet Education Group Bhd.
Masterskill shares were last traded on Friday (Jan 9) at 71 sen, with a market capitalisation of RM267 million, when SMRT shares were at 62.5 sen, with a market capitalisation of RM142.6million. Trading in both counters will resume today.
Property developer PLB Engineering Bhd announced that it had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Abdullah Talib and Siti Aishah Md Yusoff last Friday (Jan 9) to acquire nine pieces of lands in Penang for RM7.53 million.
According to PLB's filing with Bursa Malaysia today, these freehold contiguous tracts are located within Seberang Prai, and the acquisition serves the purpose of expanding the group's landbank.
PLB expects to complete the land acquisitions by the third quarter of 2015.
However, PLB said the master plan for the proposed development had not been finalised. Therefore no application has been submitted to the relevant authorities.
Shares of PLB were not traded today. The stock was last traded at RM1.70 for a market capitalisation of RM139.67 million.
Aviation, marine, and oil and gas industries' safety equipment maker Destini Bhd announced that its 51%-owned subsidiary Vanguard Composite Engineering Pte Ltd had on Dec 8 last year accepted a purchase order worth SG$1.05 million (about RM2.8 million) for six lifeboats and integrated davits.
According to Destini's filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the order was placed by SapuraAcergy Sdn Bhd.
The deal is expected to contribute positively to Destini's earnings per share, net assets per share and gearing.
Destini closed unchanged at 59 sen today, with a market capitalisation of RM471.65 million.
Plantation companies could be of interest tomorrow as the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has issued a statement today that said Malaysia's crude palm oil (CPO) production in December 2014 contracted 22.04% to 1.36 million tonnes from a month earlier, due to floods in oil palm producing states that curbed harvesting activities.
According MPOB's statement, which appeared on its website, palm oil inventory, which comprises CPO and processed palm oil, hit a five-month low of 2.01 million tonnes, which is a contraction of 11.55%.
Palm oil exports, meanwhile, edged up 0.43% to 1.52 million tonnes. The latest MPOB data also showed December palm oil stockpile had decreased at a higher rate.
Benchmark 3-month CPO Futures increased RM13 or 0.55% to RM2,361 today, with 25,606 contracts traded.